The Community Innovation Program is the signature program of the Office of Community-Based Learning at Georgia Tech. The program provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to participate in real-world, project-based learning supporting non-profit organizations throughout Atlanta.

Through experiential learning, students build professional skills while supporting community partners and contributing to civic change. For its pilot semester, CIP is partnering with the Center for Civic Innovation and graduates of its Civic Innovation Fellowship Program. The Civic Innovation Fellows have completed a nationally recognized training and coaching program that identifies, invests in, and amplifies the work of existing community leaders and movement builders in Atlanta with brilliant ideas to address social and economic inequality in their own communities. CIP builds on that work by providing hands-on learning opportunities for Georgia Tech students to conduct project-based learning in interdisciplinary teams. 

Goals for the Community Innovation Program:  

• Build career-related skills/competencies through real-world experience  

• Learn within interdisciplinary teams, which are more reflective of a workplace  

• Apply skills learned in the classroom through project-based learning  

• Be part of a community on campus committed to personal and professional development  

• Have direct community impact on Atlanta-based organizations  

Program Eligibility:

All undergraduate students, no matter your class year or major, are eligible to apply. Alongside real-world projects, students are matched in interdisciplinary student groups that mirror real-world workplaces. Students are encouraged to learn with and from peers across campus within their project teams.

Have questions regarding the program or application? Are you a nonprofit interested in hosting a project team? Reach out to Madeline (madeline.oliff@gatech.edu).